Two years of high prices for everything from groceries to gasoline have left some people

struggling to get by until their next payday.

To help, some are turning to what are called Earned Wage Access apps, which offer small short-term loans until the next paycheck.

Proponents say they help people with low incomes manage their finances.

Critics say they can lead to a cycle of overspending and borrowing and that the costs aren't always

clear.

We spoke to people who use these apps.

My name is Sherry Wilkins.

I was working as a home health aid and using the app daily pay.

I would need something at the grocery store, you know, trying to get food and trying to do that and this and I have a pet so you know I have

expenses that had to be taken care of immediately.

My name is Anna Branch.

Honestly, I was like most Americans working paycheck to paycheck.

Scrolling on the internet and to me, sounding like a no-brainer,

payday hasn't come. I need some money. They'll give me some

money and then I just have to pay it back. I probably spent three hundred and something

dollars a month on transfer fees alone.

Every two weeks I just have to keep borrowing to pay back, borrowing and pay back,

and it kind of just turned into one of those cycles.

You become so dependent on that daily money that you don't look at the

broader picture of when you need the money to pay your rent or utilities.

Once you start getting into that habit, it just, it kind of feels like a trap and something that's never ending.

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